Bangladesh Day

On Saturday 17 September the British Museum celebrates the 40th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh with a free, drop-in day of family activities - talks, storytelling, musical performances and crafts workshops - from 11am to 5pm. For those of you who are clueless about history, Eastern Pakistan won the Bangladesh Liberation War against Western Pakistan in 1971, with help from India. Apart from that victory, it has little to celebrate. Its begging bowl is out again, due to devastating monsoon floods which appear to be getting worse year by year, caused by global warming and rising sea levels. The rural poor rely on crops from the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, but have no defences against 20ft-high floods. The photo shows detail of a Painted Tin Rickshaw Panel from Dhaka, Bangladesh (late 20th Century). Click the title link for more information.